


Forever Hold Your Peace

by htbthomas



Category: Dexter (TV)
Genre: Gen, Yuletide 2008, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-25
Updated: 2008-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-04 19:12:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/htbthomas/pseuds/htbthomas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At Dexter's wedding reception, he is haunted by more than his Dark Passenger. Set at the end of Season 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever Hold Your Peace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [baranduin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/baranduin/gifts).



I twirled my bride, reveling for once in the happiness that was starting to touch my soul. Rita loved me, the kids loved me, my sister Deb was finding real happiness herself... it was all just a little surreal. If not for the ache in my wrist, tightly bound in a white cast, I might even think I was having a vision.

Harry, my familiar ghost, sat next to my mother's specter at a phantom table on the other side of the reception. He raised a glass to me, smiling as if he were really there. His proud, fatherly smile seemed so genuine that it warmed my heart. I knew it was just a trick of my subconscious, summoning up my father as a confidant, but he had been with me for so long that I no longer questioned it. But I had to admit, it was a strange feeling, this acceptance I felt from him. Especially since most of my visions had been filled with dire warnings and reminders to uphold the Code...

Harry took my mother's hand, and squeezed it, sharing a look of parental pride. And then a long-fingered hand appeared on her other shoulder. She looked up toward the new ghost with affection. I recognized his face with a start. My brother, Brian, who had masqueraded as Rudy.

"Congratulations," he said to me with a nod. "You make a beautiful couple."

"Thank you," I said, now completely in the world of my thoughts.

"And how nice of you to try to carry on the family tradition." He lifted a bony hand to point toward Rita's belly, which was suddenly larger than it had been. "Another serial killer to make the world a better place." A scalpel appeared in his hand and he unflinchingly drew it slowly down his cheeks in turn, mimicking the way I marked my victims.

"He's going to be Rita's child, too. Cody and Astor are wonderful kids..."

Brian smirked, as if he knew that I wasn't convinced by my own arguments. "And look over there at darling Deb." I turned toward my sister, watching her talk animatedly with Anton. Brian lowered his voice and spoke seductively behind my ear. "Deb and the druggie, what children _they_ would have. More kids to be trained at the feet of Uncle Dex." He added with a cruel chuckle, "Too bad you had to ruin my chances with Deb, or we might have had a little dynasty."

I snapped my head back toward him, but he was gone. Another voice drawled from my left. "Oh, that's real sweet, worrying about your sister." I swiveled my head to see James Doakes leaning against the edge of a table. "Such a human emotion doesn't really fit you, you freak."

"I'm finding them coming more and more easily these days."

"Just my luck, then. You had to find them _after_ you locked me in a cage and your psycho girlfriend blew me up." Doakes nodded toward Rita, now dancing with her kids. "She had better take care not to find out what a monster you are - or you'll have to find room for another bag of body parts in your boat," he sneered.

"Yes, it doesn't pay to become close to Dexter," yet another person commented beside me. Doakes had been replaced by Miguel Prado, the latest casualty of the collision of my personal life and my avocation. "He promises you friendship - promises that he will trust you, and teach you everything he knows... but it's all a lie."

"And you weren't deceiving me from almost the moment we met?" I challenged him.

Miguel gave me his politician's smile and spread his arms wide. "Just part of the game, right, Dexter?"

The vivid colors of my fantasy blurred and the world came into sharp focus again. I had my arms around my new wife, who was looking at me quizzically.

"What?" I said, blinking rapidly.

Rita leaned forward and murmured against my ear. "I said, penny for your thoughts."

I pulled back to look into her eyes, summoning my familiar `harmless Dexter' expression. "Oh, just thinking about everything it took for us to get here."

Her face lit up slowly, exposing her brilliant smile. "I still can't believe it."

I allowed a little bit of a wicked gleam to touch my eyes as I said, "I can't believe I have to wait another half an hour to get you out of here."

"Dexter!" she said with a throaty chuckle. "I think we can arrange that..." She must enjoy me being a bit more aggressive.

She went to start the bouquet toss, and I noticed a dribble of blood down the back of her skirt. Surprised, I lifted my wrist to see a bright red drop teetering on the edge of the cast. I grabbed a cloth napkin from our table to stop it up and then snatched her silky wrap. When I caught up to her, I placed the wrap gently around her shoulders as she kissed me on the cheek. It should cover the stain until I could remove it from her dress.

And if there was one thing I knew how to deal with, it was blood.

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